Imprisoned Heart
by TheSib
Summary: Set towards the end of the ALO arc. Asuna has been freed from Alfheim Online, and Sugou has been defeated. But what if he had one final card up his sleeve to play? One that could end up with him the winner when everything is said and done. There's still one final hurdle to overcome Kirito and his friends. I do not own Sword Art Online. All rights go to their respectful owners.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everyone. This is a new fic idea I had. It won't be very long, but I hope you'll all enjoy it nonetheless. Here you go readers.**

Sugou's cry of pain echoed throughout the room as Kirito's sword pierced his body and destroyed the remains of his avatar. With the parasite gone and out of his hair, he cut the chains binding Asuna. He caught her body in his arms gently.

"I had faith in you. I have faith in you." Asuna told him as tears rolled down her savior's eyes. "Always have and always will. Cause you're my hero."

"No. I'm not a hero." Kirito said. He lifted his head to look at Asuna's face. "But I'll do my best to be one." He swiped his finger down and opened his menu. "Come on. Let's go home."

Asuna smiled. Going home. It felt like a dream to her. Two years in Sword Art Online. And then two months trapped in a birdcage in ALO. Finally. Finally she could go home.

"It's gotta be night by now." Kirito told her. "But I'll come visit you at the hospital as soon as I can. I promise."

"I'll be waiting." Asuna said. "I want you to be the first person I see when I wake up."

Kirito nodded his head and pressed the logout button on his menu. Asuna's body dispersed from the area, her consciousness returning to the real world.

"That's it. Game over." Kirito said. "Or is it? What do you think, Kayaba?"

"Good to see you again, Kirito." Kayaba said, as he appeared in the room out of nowhere.

"So you are alive after all."

"You could say that. Technically speaking, I'm more of an afterimage of Akihiko Kayaba."

"As usual, nothing you say makes any sense." Kirito sighed. "I guess I should thank you though."

"There's no need for that." Kayaba told him. "We aren't exactly friends, you and I. Everything is give and take."

"So what do you want me to do?" Kirito asked.

Kayaba seemed to be deep in thought. "I had something in mind… but plans have changed."

"What do you mean?"

"I have a feeling you're going to be busy dealing with something soon." Kayaba told him. "So for now, I'll be sending you something to help you with that. You'll be able to help me with my favor once you're finished."

"Ok, now you've really lost me. What am I going to be busy with?"

"You'll find out soon enough. I'll be seeing you." Kayaba turned around and began to leave. "And Kirito… Be careful."

Kirito watched as Kayaba vanished in a flash of light. When Kirito could see again, he found himself back in the birdcage that Asuna had been held in.

' _Where's Yui?'_ Kirito wondered, not seeing his daughter anywhere. _'Oh well. I'm sure she's fine. She probably hid herself somewhere.'_ He opened his menu and logged himself out. _'Right now… I need to go see Asuna.'_

* * *

Sugou woke up on the bed he was diving from in his lab. He growled in anger as he clenched his fists. That boy. That raven haired pest had ruined everything. Everything was going fine until he showed up out of nowhere. How did he even get to the top of the World Tree? That was supposed to be impossible.

' _It doesn't matter.'_ Sugou thought to himself. _'What does matter is how I'm going to make that brat pay. He's never going to even get the chance to lay eyes on Asuna.'_

He got out of the bed and grabbed the knife in the drawer next to it. The pain was still present all around his body, but his right eye was what hurt the most. His vision was a little damaged from the injury. But it would be nothing compared to how he was going to make Kazuto Kirigaya suffer.

"Sugou, sir!" one of the scientists in the room exclaimed, coming over to him. "We discovered something in Alfheim Online."

"Save it for later!" Sugou snapped at him. "I have a little errand to run."

"I think you're really going to want to take a look at this." he told him, handing him a tablet.

Sugou growled as he snatched the tablet from his subordinate. "This had better be good." He looked at the information on it. His eyes widened as he looked at it. When he finished, a grin became stretched on his face. "What's your name?"

"I-It's Reiji, sir. Reiji Nakamura." he stuttered, not knowing whether to take his boss asking his name as good or bad.

"Well, Mr. Nakamura, you might just be in line for a promotion with this." Sugou handed him back the tablet and walked out of the room.

This new information proved very interesting. One thing was certain in Sugou's mind. Kazuto Kirigaya was going to regret ever crossing him.

* * *

Kazuto rode his bike through the cold frigid weather as he rushed to the hospital. All he could think about was Asuna, his one and only love, waiting for him in that hospital room.

When he finally arrived at the hospital parking lot, he let his bike fall to the ground and made a breakneck run for the front doors of the hospital building.

Seeing a sudden raven haired boy rush into the lobby, the hospital staff was obviously surprised. "Excuse me. What are you doing here at this hour?"

"It's a long story." Kazuto explained. "I need to see someone here. Her name is Asuna Yuuki."

"Visiting hours are over I'm afraid." the receptionist told him. "And besides, the patient you are speaking of is in a coma. I don't believe it will matter what time you visit her."

"Please. It's urgent." Kazuto begged. "I'm cleared to visit her. My name is Kazuto Kirigaya."

"Kirigaya…" the receptionist said, looking at the records as she scanned for the name. "Here it is. But while you are cleared to visit her, visiting hours are over." She stared at Kazuto and saw the desperation in his eyes. Whatever he wanted, he seemed to need to see the Yuuki girl badly. She let out a sigh. "Fine. I can give you five minutes. Any longer, and I'll have security throw you out."

"Thank you so much ma'am." Kazuto said with an appreciative bow of his head. He took off running towards Asuna's hospital room.

"No running! This is a hospital!"

Kazuto ignored her words as he turned the corner. He got in the elevator and tapped his foot impatiently as it rose up to the floor Asuna was on. As the doors slid open, Kazuto rushed out and made his way to Asuna's hospital room.

' _Asuna… I'm coming.'_

Back down at the lobby, another person walked into the hospital. He made his way over to the receptionist. He gave a polite smile to the woman. "Hello. I'm here to see Asuna Yuuki. Would that be alright?"

"She seems to be quite the popular girl." the receptionist said. "A boy just came in to see her. May I ask why you wish to see her?"

"Oh the answer to that is quite simple." he answered, not breaking his smile. "I'm her fiance."

Back upstairs, at the door to Asuna's room, Kazuto took a moment to catch his breath. He stared at the door for what seemed like forever. Just beyond that door was Asuna, the girl he had fallen in love with back in SAO and the one whom he had risked everything to save. She was just past that door, awake. She was awake right? She just had to be. Negative thoughts flooded Kazuto's mind as he began to panic slightly. But a soft touch kept him from losing his sanity. He could feel Asuna's hand holding his, bringing him closer towards the door.

" _I want you to be the first person I see when I wake up."_

That was Asuna's wish that she had told him. And he'd be damned if the first thing he did after freeing her from her prison in ALO was let her down. He opened the door and walked inside the room. He walked to the end of the room, past the curtains separating the two beds in the room. There she was.

"Asuna…"

Her long chestnut hair fell on her body as she stared out at the window. Her hearing was a little weak, but she still heard his voice. Asuna turned her head towards the raven haired boy and smiled at him. Her friend. Her hero. Her lover.

"Kirito…"

Kazuto slowly moved towards Asuna. He sat on her bed and leaned in, the two of them sharing a kiss. He couldn't believe it. She was here. She was with him. The nightmare of Sword Art Online was finally over. When their lips separated, they stayed trapped in each other's embrace. Neither one of them wanted this moment to end. All the fighting was finally over and they could live in peace.

Suddenly Kazuto heard the door open. He sighed, realizing it must have been the receptionist coming to tell him that his time was up. But he was sure that once she saw Asuna awake, things would be very different. When Asuna's eyes looked past him and widened in horror though, Kazuto knew that his guess was probably wrong. He turned his head to see who it was and gasped.

"My, my, what a touching moment."

"Sugou!" Kazuto growled, getting off of Asuna's hospital bed and standing in front of her protectively. Asuna had suffered enough because of this piece of scum and he was not going to let her lay another finger on her.

Sugou smirked at Kazuto. He looked like a mess. His hair didn't have the neat combed style it had when he first met him. In addition, his right eye seemed to be damaged, probably due to the sword that was driven into it back in ALO.

"What are you doing here?" Kazuto glared.

"Why I'm just here to see my beloved fiance." Sugou said innocently. "Is it wrong for a man to lay eyes on his soon to be wife?"

Anger blazed through Kazuto's eyes. "Get out. It's over Sugou. Once everyone knows about what you've been doing in ALO, you'll be lucky to get parole. Turn yourself in."

"Over?" Sugou asked. "I don't think so. No one's going to find out about my research. And neither of you are going to say one word about it."

"And how do you figure that?"

"Simple. Because I have the better hand in this game." Sugou grinned. As Kazuto and Asuna looked at him, wondering what he meant, he played his hand. "When I woke up in my lab after your little stunt Kirigaya, my team managed to find a little program running around that was linked to your Nerve Gear. And after a little doing, that program is now in my possession."

Kazuto's eyes widened in fear when he realized what Sugou was referring to. "No…"

"Oh yes." Sugou grinned. "I believed it was classified as a Mental Health Counseling Program. Codename: Yui."

 **A/N: And that's it for the first chapter. Sorry it was a bit on the short side, but I can promise the other chapters will be longer. I don't know how often I'll be able to update this story, but I promise to update when I can. And special thanks to Dragondemolition for their support in making this fic.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I am SO sorry about how long it took me to get this chapter out. First there was Blazing Revolution getting in the way, then writer's block, then exams. So many small things over time just made it difficult to write this out. I thank all of you for being patient with me and I hope this chapter is worth the wait.**

"Give her back!"

Never before in his life had Kazuto's voice had so much malice as he rushed at Sugo and pinned him against the wall. The teen's shoulder pressed against Sugou's throat as he glared murderously at the man.

Sugou smirked at Kazuto. "I'm surprised you care this much about one simple program Kirigaya. Just what is this Yui you and my dear Asuna seem so concerned about?"

"Let her go you bastard." Kazuto glared. "Do it now or so help me I'll-"

"You'll what? Attack me and get her deleted? I think you need to realize your place, boy." Sugou enjoyed the hateful but powerless look in Kazuto's eyes. "Now then, I suggest you let me go."

His glare didn't weaken, but Kazuto did back away. He couldn't believe this. How had Sugou gotten ahold of his and Asuna's daughter?

Sugou straightened out his tie as he looked at Kazuto and Asuna. "Now then, I'll keep this simple so your two feeble minds can understand it. The two of you aren't going to tell anyone about my experiments going on in Alfheim Online. In addition, my wedding with dear Asuna will continue on schedule and she'll agree to marry me."

"Like hell that'll happen!" Kazuto shouted.

"You two will do as I say, or you can say goodbye to your precious Yui. Do I make myself clear?"

Kazuto froze. He silently cursed under his breath. He couldn't make a move or do anything without risking Yui being deleted by this psychopath. Asuna stared at what was happening in horror. Why? After they had fought so hard, why? Why was this happening?

"I'll take your silence as a yes." Sugou smirked. "Don't worry about your little program. I'll be sure to keep her nice and safe. Once Asuna and I are married and RECT is passed down to me, I'll hand Yui over to you."

Kazuto and Asuna glared at Sugou with hatred. Kazuto wanted to pierce his heart with his sword right then and there if he could. But he stayed still, his body shaking with rage.

Sugou turned and walked out of the room. "I'll leave you two alone for one final moment. Be sure to enjoy it Asuna, cause after this you'll be all mine."

After Sugou walked out of the room, Kazuto fell to his knees. His hand curled up into a fist and he slammed it on the ground. He had come so close. He had freed Asuna. He thought the nightmare was over. But now the happy future he envisioned with Asuna had never seemed further away.

"Kirito…"

Kazuto turned his head around and saw Asuna staring at him. The look in her eyes was one of fear, that much was clear. Tears welled up in her eyes. Kazuto got to his feet and walked over to Asuna. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close. "I'll find a way to save her. I promise. I won't let that parasite take you from me again."

But at the moment, those were just empty words. He knew that and Asuna knew that. He was powerless against Sugou so long as he had Yui in his grasp. Kazuto knew that Asuna would let Sugou take her if it meant protecting Yui. But how was he supposed to stop Sugou without endangering their daughter?

Soon the door to the hospital room opened again and the receptionist walked in to tell Kazuto that his five minutes were up. Her eyes widened however when she saw Asuna awake. Almost immediately, a doctor was called in. Kazuto was told to leave the room while they checked up on Asuna's condition. He left after saying goodbye to Asuna and telling her one last thing.

"I promise I'll find a way to sort this mess out."

* * *

It took Kazuto nearly twice as long to pedal back home on his bike than it had when he had went to the hospital. Almost all of the energy he had when going to see Asuna was gone now, and replaced with a weighing feeling of helplessness.

Kazuto didn't know how much time had passed when he finally returned home. He let his bike fall against the side of the house as he walked inside.

The sound of the door closing made Suguha come downstairs. "Hey Kazuto, how was-" The rest of the sentence died on her tongue as she looked at her brother. "Kazuto? What's wrong? What happened?"

Kazuto fell to his knees as tears rolled down his eyes. He hadn't wanted to break down in front of Suguha, but he couldn't help it anymore. He was at a complete loss at what to do.

"Is it Asuna? Is she ok?" Suguha asked as she kneeled down next to him.

"Asuna… she… she…" Kazuto could barely form a sentence as tears fell from his eyes and splashed onto the floor.

"Kazuto!" sternly said, forcing him to look at her. "What happened?"

It took a few minutes for Kazuto to finally calm down. After he did, he sat with Suguha in the kitchen and explained everything that had happened. When he finally finished, Suguha could see why he was so upset.

"There's gotta be something you can do about this. Anything?" Suguha asked. "You can't just let this Sugou guy get away with everything, can you?"

"I know that!" Kazuto snapped, making Suguha flinch back slightly. "I know that… but still… what am I supposed to do? That bastard has Yui."

Suguha thought to herself, but like Kazuto she was unable to come up with anything. So she did the only thing she could do at the moment. Getting out of her seat, she stared her brother in the eyes with a caring expression.

"Get some rest for now. You've had a long day." Suguha told him. "You've still got time to find a way to stop this guy from marrying Asuna. So rest up and we'll think of something in the morning."

To Suguha's relief Kazuto nodded his head, albeit weakly. She helped him to his room and watched as he crawled into bed. Before leaving, she said one last thing.

"Don't give up hope yet Kazuto. I still believe in you. And I know Asuna does too."

After closing the door to Kazuto's room, Suguha went back to her own room and sat down on her bed. She could see it in Kazuto's eyes that he was at a complete loss of what to do. She needed to think of something. Some way to help Kazuto and Asuna. But how was she supposed to do that?

' _What can I do to help?'_ Suguha asked herself. ' _If only I had your strength brother. If only I knew what Kirito would do.'_ Suddenly an idea flashed in her mind. ' _That's it! I don't know what Kirito would do! But I know how to find out!'_

Quickly grabbing her cell phone, Suguha ran downstairs and began searching. It was here somewhere. She knew Kazuto kept it by the house phone. Where was it?

"Here it is!" Suguha said with a relieved grin. She took out a small notebook and began flipping through the pages. After circling down a few names that she remembered Kazuto mentioning, she dialed the number of the first one. After a few rings, the person on the other end picked up.

"Ugh… hello? Who is this and do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Sorry." Suguha said. "But this is really important. Is this Lisbeth?"

"Yes it- Wait! How do you know that name?"

Suguha breathed a sigh of relief. "I believe you knew my brother in SAO. His name was Kirito."

"Kirito?! Wait, you're his sister?!"

"Yes." Suguha replied. "I'm sorry for calling you so late, but it's really important."

"Did Kirito get himself mixed up in some kind of trouble again?"

"Sort of. It's a bit of a long story." Suguha explained. "You see…"

* * *

Kazuto blinked his eyes open as the morning light shined through his bedroom window. He let out a yawn as he dragged himself out of bed. He had hoped everything that had happened last night was just a bad dream, but it was too clear in his memory for that to be true.

Suguha's words still hung fresh inside his mind. " _You've still got time to find a way to stop this guy from marrying Asuna."_

Time. That was one thing he wished he had more of right now. If what Sugou said was true, then the marriage would still be on schedule for how it was before. January 26th. That gave him a little less than three days to put a stop to Sugou's plans and save Yui. But just how was he supposed to do that?

Feeling too tired to continue thinking about it right now, Kazuto decided to go get something to eat. Suguha was probably already up, since it was getting close to noon. He needed to thank her for the things she told him last night.

As Kazuto walked downstairs, a voice called from the living room. "Finally. It's about time you woke up."

Kazuto recognized the voice that spoke to him. He yawned as he walked towards the kitchen. "Morning Liz." A few seconds passed by as he froze before rushing backwards over to the living room. "LIZ?!"

"What's up?" Liz greeted with a big grin on her face. "Long time no see."

Kazuto looked at Liz with a blank stare. He rubbed his eyes to see if he was hallucinating, but she was still there. "Y-Yeah… long time no see. Umm… not to be rude Liz, but what are you doing here?"

"Your sister invited us." Liz explained.

"Us?"

"Yo Kirito!" a new voice greeted.

Looking to his left, Kazuto widened his eyes at who he saw. "Klein?! Silica?!"

"It's good to see you again Kirito." Silica said with a cheerful smile.

Soon Suguha walked into the room as well. "Well, well, look who's finally up."

Kirito was at a loss for words at seeing his friends from SAO all together in the living room of his house. He looked over to his sister. "Suguha, why did you invite all of them here?"

"Well that's a bit rude." Liz said with a smirk. "And we were all ready to help you and Asuna."

"Asuna?" Kazuto eyed Suguha. "Did you…"

"Only the short version." Suguha explained. "I figured it be best to hear the whole story from you."

Klein smirked at his best friend. "Let me guess. You were planning on handling this all by yourself, weren't you?"

"Um… Well I…"

"Same old Kirito." Liz said with a roll of her eyes. "Well not this time. We're here to help save Asuna from this sadistic psycho creep."

"I'll help too." Silica chimed in. "You helped me back in SAO. This is the least I can do to repay you."

"Guys…" Kazuto gasped. A smile came to his face. "Thank you. I usually wouldn't want to get anyone else involved, but I can't do this alone. I need your help."

Klein, Liz, Suguha, and Silica all nodded their heads in agreement. Liz looked at Kirito. "One more thing. Who exactly is this Yui that your sister mentioned?"

A cold sweat rolled down the back of Kazuto's neck as he realized that he and Asuna hadn't told any of their friends about Yui. He rubbed the back of his head nervously as he took a seat. "It's a bit of a long story. Where should I start?"

 **A/N: Again, sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I will try my very best to get the next one out in a timely fashion. In all honesty, that might be a bit hard with SAO: Hollow Realization coming out soon, but I will aim to get chapter 3 out within a month. Hope you all liked the chapter and hope to see you all then.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Well it wasn't within a month, but it was pretty close. Sorry for the slight delay readers, but college likes to cut into my free time. It also didn't help that Pokemon Sun and Moon is a bit addictive to play. Well I'm sure you guys don't want to hear me ramble on so here's the chapter.**

Klein and the others knew that Kirito had been in some crazy adventures back in SAO. He was the legendary Black Swordsman after all. Heck, they had even been involved in a few of them. Silica had gone through Floor 47 with him in search of the Pneuma Flower to revive her tamed beast Pina. Liz had gotten herself stuck in a dragon nest with Kirito. Klein… well, there were a few adventures he'd rather not remember with the raven haired swordsman, most notably getting beaten up by a Floor 1 boar.

But none of them had expected an adventure like the one he described with finding Yui.

"You and Asuna had a KID?!" Liz gasped.

"Why didn't you ever mention this?!" Silica exclaimed.

"How come you're always so lucky?!" Klein complained, an outburst that got him several looks from the others in response.

"It's a hard story to believe, trust me I know." Kazuto said. "But that's the truth, and right now Sugou has Yui. As long as he does, there's nothing I can do to stop him from marrying Asuna."

"Could we try getting her back from him somehow?" Liz asked.

Kazuto shook his head. "I don't even know where he'd be keeping her in the first place. And even if I did, I doubt Sugou would let me anywhere near her."

"What about one of us?" Suguha suggested. "Sugou doesn't know about us being related in any way to you or Asuna."

"Oh yeah, we just walk up to him as total strangers and say 'Hey, could I see if you have any flash drives containing an advanced AI girl?'. Cause that'll totally work." Klein remarked sarcastically.

"Well then what are we supposed to do?" Silica asked the group. "There has to be some way for us to stop this guy without getting Yui or Asuna hurt."

The group all lowered their heads, unsure of what to do about their current predicament. Time was running short and they all knew something had to be done. The problem was figuring out what that something was.

* * *

Asuna had imagined she'd be overjoyed once she was back in the real world. She'd be out of the virtual world and she'd be able to see Kirito again and live happily ever after. But now she had never felt more scared now that she was back. Sugou had Yui in his clutches and she'd be married off to him within the week if something wasn't done. But there was nothing neither she nor Kirito could do now. If giving herself up to Sugou was what it would take to keep Yui safe, then that's what she would do.

But that didn't stop the trembling of her body. Her thoughts were filled now of what that… that monster would do to her once she was married to him. A tear fell from her eye as she sat in fear of what her future had in store.

' _Kirito… please… help me.'_

The sound of the door to the room opening snapped Asuna out of her thoughts. She wondered if it was Kirito coming to cheer her up. Or perhaps it was Sugou coming to revel in his victory again. Her eyes widened in surprise of who it actually was though. Three people to be exact.

Kyouko, Shouzo, and Koichirou Yuuki. Her parents and brother.

"Mom… Dad… Brother…" Asuna gasped.

Shouzo was the first to go to Asuna, walking up to her and giving her a warm hug. Asuna noticed a tear fall from her father's eyes. "Welcome home, Asuna. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too Dad." Asuna said.

Kyouko didn't go up and hug Asuna, and instead showed a contempt look at her daughter. "It's nice to have you home, Asuna."

"Yeah." Asuna mumbled. She wasn't surprised by her mother's reaction. It was the kind of woman she was. But either way, she was happy. It was the first moment since last night that she had been this overcome by joy.

"Well, well, it's so nice to see such a lovely family moment."

And of course that joy had to be ruined by the sound of the voice belonging to the person Asuna despised with all of her being. Sugou Noboyuki walked into the room with his usual fake smile worn on his face.

Koichirou shot a small glare at the man. "What are you doing here? This is a family moment."

"My, my, I'm hurt Koichirou." Sugou said. "I can't believe you'd act this way to your future brother-in-law."

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but Asuna is awake now." Koichirou stated. "That means you need her consent to marry her."

"Oh but I do have her consent." Sugou said. He walked past Koichirou and stood at Asuna's side. "You see, when I visited Asuna last night and found that she was awake, I told her about our engagement. She agreed to it completely."

"You expect me to believe that garbage. Asuna would never agree to marry you. Right Asuna?" Koichirou looked at his sister, expecting her to fully agree with him, but his eyes widened when he saw Asuna look away from him. "Asuna…?"

"It's true…" Asuna said, barely loud enough for everyone to hear. "I… I've agreed to marry Sugou… I love him…" The words made her want to vomit all over the floor. But she had to put up the act in front of her family. For Yui's sake.

Koichirou couldn't believe the words he heard coming from his sister's mouth. For as long as he could remember, Asuna had hated Sugou Noboyuki with all of her being. He had even tried to talk their parents out of trying to marry Asuna to him, but Kyouko being the thick-headed woman she was always ignored his pleas. But for Asuna herself to actually agree to marrying Sugou? What was going on?

"You see? Asuna is more than willing to agree to the marriage." Sugou said. He looked at Kyouko and Shouzo. "If you don't mind, we'd still like the wedding to go on schedule as it already was. Isn't that right dear?"

"Yes…" Asuna muttered. "The sooner the better."

Shouzo nodded his head. "Of course. If you two are that willing to marry each other, I see no reason to postpone the wedding. It won't be anything extravagant, being in a hospital, but I'm sure that hardly matters to you two."

"Indeed. If we could step outside for a moment to go over the details."

Kyouko and Shouzo walked out of the room, followed by Sugou. Koichirou could see the faintest smug grin coming from Sugou as he walked past him. Once he was gone, it was just the two Yuuki siblings. Koichirou looked at his sister. "Alright Asuna, what is going on. Why are you agreeing to marry Sugou?"

Asuna stayed silent, keeping her gaze away from her brother.

"Asuna, answer me!" Koichirou pleaded. "I know you hate him. You've told me that since you we were little. So why are you doing this?"

"I can't tell you…" Asuna said. "I'm sorry…"

"Damnit Asuna, you can't give me that!" Koichirou yelled. "I'm not going to watch you throw your future away to that wretch! Tell me what's going on!"

"Just drop it!" Asuna suddenly shouted, catching her brother off guard. Koichirou stared at his sister, noticing tears starting to fall from his eyes. "Brother… please… Just leave it alone..."

Koichirou walked up and sat on the edge of Asuna's bed. "Asuna, you can tell me anything. No matter what, I will always be here for you. Whatever you need, I will be there."

Asuna didn't know whether the tears falling from her eyes were from the sadness of her current situation, or the happiness from having such a caring brother. Perhaps it was a little of both. But Asuna knew what she needed right now. "Koichirou… there is one thing I need."

"What is it?"

"Can you hug me?" Asuna asked. "Please. I just really need one right now."

Koichirou nodded his head at his sister. "Of course." He leaned in and wrapped his arms around Asuna, holding her in a loving embrace. Asuna did the same, brining her brother in close. Before Koichirou noticed it, Asuna had her mouth to his ear. She whispered quietly into it.

"Find a boy named Kazuto Kirigaya. He can tell you everything. Don't tell mother and father, and don't let Sugou know about where you're going."

The message came so fast and sudden, that it took Koichirou a moment to process it. But if Asuna was telling him this, he knew that a lot more was going on than he realized. He gave a silent nod of his head as the two siblings separated.

It wasn't long before their parents returned with Sugou. Koichirou could tell by the smirk on Sugou's face that everything was going his way right now. And whatever that was, it was hurting Asuna. As badly as he wanted to strangle Sugou right there and make him talk, he knew that he had something else to do right now. "I think I'm going to head back for now."

"Leaving so soon?" Sugou asked.

"Yes." Koichirou said, keeping his cool composure. "I have a bit of work piled up that I need to get done." He gave one last look at his sister before heading out the door. "Bye Asuna. I'll make sure to visit you again soon."

As Koichirou walked out of the hospital's front doors, he already had a list of calls to make in his head to track down this Kazuto Kirigaya that Asuna spoke of. He reached for his cellphone, but decided against it on the off chance that Sugou had his entire family's phone's bugged. He couldn't take any chances. Not with Asuna's future on the line.

Koichirou went to the nearest payphone he could find and made a call. It was time to find out who this Kazuto Kirigaya was and get some answers.

It took the better part of two hours, but Koichirou's contacts had finally managed to give him a basic profile of Kazuto. He was a year younger than Asuna, and lived in Tokyo. Most notably, Koichirou noticed that he was the SAO Survivor named Kirito, the hero that beat SAO. Now that Koichirou thought about it, he had heard rumors that Asuna and Kirito had been in a relationship while in the game. Koichirou's informants had also managed to get him the address of the Kirigaya home. Using his GPS, the Yuuki son made his way to the house.

The home was a fairly simple one, but Koichirou liked the look of it from outside. He had lived in a mansion for most of his life, but to him that had never truly been a home due to the family he grew up with. Koichirou walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

A few seconds passed by before the door was answered by a teen girl with short black hair. "Yes, can I help you?"

"Hello." Koichirou greeted with a polite bow. "Is this the Kirigaya residence?"

The girl narrowed her eyes at him. "What's it to you?"

"My apologies, my name is Koichirou Yuuki. I heard this was where I could find a Kazuto Kirigaya. I believe he knows my sister."

"Wait… Yuuki… As in Asuna Yuuki?"

"That would be my sister." Koichirou nodded.

The surprise on Suguha's face was plain to see. "And may I ask what business you have with my brother?"

"I believe he can answer a few questions I have regarding my sister marrying a certain… man."

The disdain in Koichirou's voice towards Sugou made Suguha willing to believe he was on their side. She couldn't tell for sure, but she knew that having inside help from Asuna's family would definitely be a strong asset. "Of course. Please come in. My brother is in the other room."

"Thank you." Koichirou said as he entered the house. He followed Suguha into the adjacent room, where several people were sitting together.

One of the people Koichirou was able to assume right away to be Kazuto, due to his description, looked at him curiously. "Suguha, who's this?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Koichirou said. "I'm Koichirou Yuuki, Asuna's brother." The group all gasped at the identity of the man. Koichirou walked up to the table. "May I take a seat?"

"Y-Yes, of course." Kazuto nodded.

Koichirou planted himself in a seat at the table, noticing all eyes on him. "I'm going to get straight to the point here. My sister is marrying someone who I know she does not love in any way. She told me I could find out why if I came to see you." He took notice of the group all glancing at each other, which told him they definitely knew something. "Please, I need your help. I can't let that worthless rat do whatever he wants with my sister."

Kazuto was silent as he debated whether to trust Koichirou or not. His gut was telling him that he seemed honest with the way he talked, and he knew that he deserved to know what was going on if he was Asuna's brother. But at the same time, he was hesitant about getting anyone else involved. Technically no one except him and Asuna were supposed to know about Sugou's plans, and he had already failed at that. But one thing made him know that enlisting Koichirou's help was the right choice. Asuna had sent him here. And if she trusted him, then so did he.

"Fine. I'll tell you." Kazuto said. "But everything I say stays within the confines of this group. No one else can know what we tell you, for now at least."

Koichirou didn't have many options right now with how desperate he was. He nodded his head. "Alright."

Kazuto nodded his head and began to explain everything to Koichirou. About what had happened in ALO. About Yui and who she was. And also about the threat Sugou had made to him and Asuna in order to blackmail Asuna into marrying him. Koichirou's rage only seemed to intensify as the story went on. By the time Kazuto was finished, Koichirou felt like he was going to pop a blood vessel.

"That son of a bitch!" Koichirou yelled as he slammed his fist onto the table. "When I get my hands on him, I'm gonna-"

"Hang on. Sugou can't know that you know this." Kazuto reminded him. "If you go up and threaten him with this, he'll delete Yui."

Under normal circumstances, Koichirou wouldn't care about such things and would go after Sugou immediately. But based on what Kazuto had told him, both he and Asuna cared deeply for this Yui. "Alright, so what do we do? I hope you're not suggesting we actually let Sugou get away with all this."

Kazuto shook his head. "Of course not. There's no way I'd let Sugou get his hands on Asuna."

"Unless we can get Yui back though, our hands are tied." Liz added. "And so far, we can't think of where Yui even is, let alone how to get to her."

Koichirou brought his hand to his chin as he thought to himself. If he were Sugou, where would he hide Yui so that no one could find her. "You said that Yui is an AI right?" Kazuto nodded his head in response to the question. "In that case, I'd assume he has her on some sort of flash drive rather than stored on a server. That way, she wouldn't be able to escape on her own."

"Any idea where Sugou might hide that?" Suguha asked.

"He wouldn't keep it on him. That'd make it too easy to accidentally lose or get caught." Koichirou said. "He wouldn't keep it at his house either. It has high security, but it's still possible to break in. Sugou would keep it somewhere safe. Somewhere no one would question him going. Somewhere…" Koichirou paused, finally realizing the answer. "RECT Progress."

"RECT? You mean the company Mr. Yuuki runs?" Kazuto questioned.

Koichirou nodded his head. "You said that Sugou's working with a small team of scientists. That's probably the people in his department. A lot of the stuff they work on is top secret, so it has high security. The only ones that'd be able to get in there are himself, his team, and my father since he's the CEO."

"Do you think you could get in? You're related to the CEO after all." Silica said.

"I could, but they'd be on high alert the second I went in." he explained. "We'd need to do it at a time when security would be low and Sugou wouldn't be there. But considering the circumstances, I doubt he'd ever leave the office at a time when we could get in there without arousing suspicion."

No one had a way past that. Sugou was on high alert right now. He wouldn't make any careless moves. But they didn't have time to wait around for an opportunity to present itself. There were only a couple days before the wedding.

"The wedding…" Liz realized. "That's it! We do it on the day of the wedding!" The whole group all looked at Liz. "Think about it. Sugou won't be there since he'll be getting ready to marry Asuna. And since it's so close to the end of our time limit, they wouldn't expect it. We could catch them completely off guard."

"I don't know. That's a big risk." Koichirou said. "Who knows if we'd even find Yui and get her out of there before the wedding happens."

Kazuto nodded his head. "I agree. I don't like taking that chance when Asuna is on the line."

"But we don't exactly have a lot of other options." Suguha pointed out. "We've only got one shot at this so we need to do it when our chances of getting Yui are best."

Kazuto and Koichirou thought to themselves, desperate to find an alternative that didn't put Asuna in such danger. But neither one of them could come up with anything. As much as they hated to admit it, this was their best shot.

"Fine. Let's do it." Koichirou said. "But I doubt I'll be able to get to her without drawing any attention if I go alone. I'll need someone to come in with me under the disguise of a business partner."

The group all looked at each other. Kazuto couldn't go, Sugou's men would know what was going on the second he walked in. Suguha was also out since they most likely already had info on the entire Kirigaya family. Liz and Silica were too young to pass as business partners. That left only one option. Everyone turned their heads to one individual in the room.

"Why's everyone looking at me?" Klein asked nervously.

 **A/N: Believe it or not, this story is about halfway done. Yeah, I know it hasn't seemed that long but I never planned to make this story go on very long. I think you guys will enjoy what's to come so keep an eye out for next chapter. I should be able to get it out sometime late December or early January since I'll be done with the semester by then.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Yes! Finally able to get a chapter for this story out within a month! It's time for the second half of this story to begin and I'm sure you'll find it very exciting. Here you go.**

Asuna sat in her hospital room, completely alone. Every time her family would come to visit her, she would put on a brave face, acting like everything was ok. In reality however, everything was not ok. Not even close.

The arranged marriage between her and Sugou was tomorrow. Her mother and father had been talking nonstop about the marriage. Sometimes they were so busy with it that they didn't even come to visit. As for Kouichirou… the best she could hope for was that he had managed to find Kirito and they had some sort of idea. But that was wishful thinking at best. As things seemed right now, Sugou had won. All of the odds were in his favor.

' _Kirito… Anybody… Please help me.'_

Suddenly Asuna heard the doors to her room open. She expected it to be Sugou, coming in to gloat about his assured victory once again. But as the visitor came into view, Asuna widened her eyes at who it was. The one she wasn't marrying, but was still her true love.

"Kirito…" Asuna muttered out. Simply the sight of him had her on the verge of tears.

"Asuna." Kazuto walked up and sat on the edge of the bed, holding Asuna in a loving embrace. "Sorry I haven't been around to visit more often. Things have been-"

"Shh, don't say anything more Kirito." Asuna told him through her tears. "All that matters is that you're here now. That's all that matters to me."

Kazuto and Asuna continued to hug each other for what seemed like forever. While Asuna loved being close to the boy she loved, it also reminded her that they soon might never see each other again.

"Kirito… I'm scared." Asuna cried.

"I know. I'm scared too." Kazuto told her. "But I promise, I won't let that bastard take you away from me. I'll find a way to save you."

"How?"

"I can't tell you." Kazuto said. "I just need you to do me a favor."

"Name it, Kirito. Whatever you need."

"Tomorrow at the wedding, stall for as much time as possible. Can you do that?"

Asuna silently nodded her head. "I'll try."

Kazuto tightened his embrace on Asuna for a few more seconds before letting her go. "I'll save both you and Yui. I swear it."

"I believe in you Kirito." Asuna said. "I love you."

"I love you too." Kazuto said as he walked out of the room. ' _I just wish I was as confident as I sounded.'_

* * *

 _-The next day-_

Kouichirou and Klein stood in front of the corporate building for RECT Progress. The wedding was scheduled to happen in a little less than an hour. Time was short, and they had to find and retrieve Yui fast if their plan was going to work.

"When we go in, you'll be under the disguise of a business associate of mine." Kouichirou said. "I have a pretty good idea of where Sugou's keeping Yui. Once we get there, I'll distract Sugou's men so you can sneak in and grab Yui."

"And after that?" Klein asked.

"We get the hell out as fast as we can."

Klein nervously nodded his head. "Sounds easy enough."

The two men walked inside of RECT PRogress. Klein was dressed up in a fancy business suit that Kouichirou had lent him. The stiff and proper look didn't suit him, but considering the circumstances he could deal with it. Kouichirou and Klein walked up to the elevator. The son of the Yuuki family swiped a card and the elevator opened for them. As they walked inside, Kouichirou pressed a button to one of the underground floors. As they went down, the nervousness of the situation began to set in for both of them.

As they arrived on the underground floor, the two of them stepped out. Klein couldn't help but be amazed by all of the high tech stuff he saw. "Holy cow, this place is amazing."

"Well RECT is one of the biggest electronics companies in Japan. We need to have tech to keep up with our name." Kouichirou explained.

It wasn't much longer before Kouichirou and Klein were both approached by a couple of the scientists working down on the floor. "What are you doing here? This is a restricted-"

"I believe you'll find that I have clearance to be here." Kouichirou said.

The scientist looked over at Kouichirou, just now noticing who he was. "M-Mr. Yuuki?! My apologies, I didn't realize it was you." He looked over at Klein. "And may I ask who this is?"

"This is Ryoutarou, a business partner of mine." Kouichirou explained.

"And are you sure it's alright for him to be down here sir? A lot of this stuff is highly classified."

"You needn't worry. He'll be fine." Kouichirou assured them. "I hate to rush, but I'd like to make this quick so I can get to my sister's wedding. Could you show me the ALO servers? There's something I need to check."

The two of them glanced nervously at each other. "May we ask what it is you'd like to check. We would be happy to do it for you, sir."

"No, I'd like to do it myself thank you." Koichirou said. "It's nothing important. Just a quick look through to make sure everything is in proper working order."

"... Understood. Please follow us."

Klein and Kouichirou walked behind the scientists as they made their way to the server room for Alfheim Online. As they walked, Klein whispered into Kouichirou's ear so they wouldn't hear him. "Ok, so that was suspicious as hell, right?"

Kouichirou nodded his head. "They're hiding something. The server room is the most secure place on this floor. I'm betting that's where the drive containing Yui is."

Klein nodded his head as they walked. These guys were already on guard with them showing up out of the blue. Getting Yui without them noticing would be difficult.

Finally, they arrived at the server room. The inside of the room was impressive to say the least. A large computer monitor sat at one end of the room with some high tech stuff attached to it. It only made sense considering it was the main server for an entire VRMMORPG. As they walked inside, Kouichirou glanced around the room, looking for anything that caught his eye. Finally he saw a desk with several drawers in it. Kouichirou nudged Klein and looked towards the desk. Klein silently nodded his head, understanding what Kouichirou was trying to tell him.

They walked up to the main computer Kouichirou looked at one of the scientists. "If you'd be so kind as to type in the password and grant me access to the servers. I'd like to wrap this up as quickly as possible."

"Of course sir." one of them said, clearly nervous. Kouichirou knew why. If what Kazuto said was true, they'd be able to see that the three hundred comatose SAO Survivors were trapped in the game once they looked at the servers. They'd have to act quickly for this to work.

As the man typed in the password, Klein began to quietly step back over towards the desk Kouichirou had pointed to earlier. As he crept back though, he found himself bump into someone, who quickly put a hand over his mouth. Klein struggled to break free, but the man's hold was too strong. He also noticed a scientist behind Kouichirou pull a knife out of his pocket.

' _Crap! This is bad!'_ Klein thought to himself. He struggled to find a way out of the man's hold to warn Kouichirou. Finally, he decided to improvise, biting a little into the man's hand. He cringed in pain, giving Klein the opportunity he needed to headbutt him with the back of his head. The mouth came free of his hand. "Behind you!"

Kouichirou turned around at the last second, just barely seeing the knife come for him. He moved out of the way, while Klein finally managed to free himself and ran over to Kouichirou.

"What is the meaning of this, as if I even have to ask?" Kouichirou questioned.

"Sorry sir, but we can't let you leave here now. You know too much." one of the scientists said.

"If you'd just came by for a regular visit to give us a chance to hide the evidence while you checked, this wouldn't have had to happen." another one added.

"So there really are three hundred people stuck in ALO." Kouichirou glared.

Klein knew they had to act fast. He lunged at one of Sugou's men. "Get Yui! Hurry!"

Kouichirou hesitated for a moment, but knew what he had to do. He rushed over to the desk he had seen earlier. The other two men quickly gave chase.

As Kouichirou came to the desk, he saw that Sugou's men were already closing in on him. He reacted quickly, dodging a knife that came for him, and slamming the attacker's head into the desk counter, knocking him out. He just barely managed to avoid the second one's strike, receiving a cut to his right arm. Kouichirou endured the pain and lunged at him, tackling him into the desk. With a right hook to the face, he managed to knock the man out.

"Phew, guess those self defense classes when I was a kid were a good idea after all." Kouichirou said with a small grin. He quickly looked around for a key on the desk, finally finding it a few seconds later. He unlocked the desk drawer, seeing several papers and supplies of some kind. He checked drawer after drawer, finally coming across a drive that read MHCP-001. He could only guess this was Yui. He plugged it into a small laptop her had brought along, seeing several complicated programs and codes inside the flash drive. It confirmed his suspicions.

"I got her!" Kouichirou shouted.

"Good, then let's get out of here!" Klein said, finally managing to push back the guy he was fighting. Both of them ran out of the room and towards the elevator.

"How much time do we have left?" Klein asked as they ran.

Kouichirou looked at his watch. "About forty minutes. And it'll take at least half an hour to get to the hospital."

The two men ran into the elevator. Once they were both inside, Kouichirou slammed his hand on the button for the ground floor. As the doors closed, they could already see Sugou's men coming around the corner. They shouted as the doors closed and the elevator went up.

"Phew. We did it." Klein said with a relieved sigh. Not long after he said this however, an alarm sounded. "Aw come on! Really?!"

"Damnit, they're forcing a security lockdown." Kouichirou realized. "All the exits will be shut down. We won't be able to get out."

"What?! Then what do we do? We need to get Yui out of here so we can stop the wedding!"

"There's a back door to the building. We don't keep it connected to the electronic locks in case of emergencies." Kouichirou explained. "But security will have that entrance blocked for any personnel within minutes."

"But you're the son of the CEO! Can't you talk your way past them?!"

Kouichirou shook his head. "Protocol is very strict in times of a lockdown. The guards aren't allowed to let anyone enter or leave, period. We'll have to run and hope we get out before they arrive."

The second the elevator door opened, Klein and Kouichirou sped out with Kouichirou leading the way to the back door. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping them from exhaustion as they ran as fast as they could. Finally, they saw the back door.

"There it is! Hurry!" Kouichirou yelled.

"Stop them!" They soon heard voices shout. Both men glanced behind them to see two more people, most likely ones working for Sugou, running after them.

"Don't these guys ever give up?" Klein asked.

Kouichirou and Klein ran out the door, with Klein slamming it shut. He held the door closed as he heard bangs against the door. "Get to the hospital! Hurry!"

"But what about you?!" Kouichirou asked.

"I'll be fine, just go!"

Kouichirou reluctantly nodded his head and ran to his car. He turned on the ignition and sped out of the parking lot, rushing to get to the hospital in time to stop the wedding.

' _Just hang on Asuna. Your big bro's coming.'_

 **A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the start of Kirito and everyone's plan to stop Sugou. Next chapter will be out sometime in January, I promise. Happy holidays everyone.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello readers, and a happy new year to all of you. This chapter is a little on the short side unfortunately. I tried making it longer, but when I looked over it, the chapter didn't look good that way. So the final product is this. I hope you all like it.**

Kouichirou's car sped through the city streets as he made his way to the hospital. There wasn't much time left until Asuna would be married to that bastard Sugou. He had to hurry if they were going to stop his plan.

The Yuuki son drove up to the hospital parking lot. His car pulled to a stop with a screech as he got out and ran towards the front entrance.

"There he is! Stop him!"

He picked up the pace as he heard Sugou's men behind him. Clearly Klein hadn't been able to hold them at bay for long. He noticed there were fewer of them than before, so perhaps Klein had managed to do something. Kouichirou just hoped that he was alright.

As he ran, Koichirou tripped over and fell. He quickly got to his feet and started running again after making sure the drive containing Yui was still in his pocket. Unfortunately, his stumble, Sugou's men were gaining on him and closing in fast.

From the entrance of the hospital, Liz came out and waved her arms in the air to get Asuna's brother's attention. "Here! Over here!"

Koichirou knew what she was planning. He grabbed the drive from his pocket and threw it towards Liz. The brunette girl caught it in her hands and quickly ran inside the hospital. Kouichirou soon followed, going in a different direction than Liz.

"Split up! Don't let either of them get away!" one of Sugou's men called out. As they ran through the front doors, a leg stretched out tripping one of them over. The other two ignored their fallen friend, all of the focus on catching Koichirou and Liz. They split up going after the two.

The one that had tripped over slammed his fist into the ground. "Damnit." He soon saw the identity of the person that had tripped him as Suguha stood above him with a grin.

"You know you really shouldn't run in a hospital. It's not very safe."

Liz could see one of Sugou's men chasing after her as she ran down the hall. She turned a corner and quickly ran up the stairs towards the floor Asuna was on. She barely made it to the second floor before she could hear Sugou's lackey coming up the stairs as well.

' _Gotta hurry! Come Liz, pick up the pace! Asuna's fate depends on this!'_ she told herself as she ran up another flight of stairs.

Finally Liz made it to the floor Asuna's hospital room was on. As she came out of the stairwell, she saw Kazuto down the hall.

"Kirito, catch!" Liz called out as she threw the drive at her friend. After she did, she saw Sugou's lackey come out from the stairwell.

"Give me that drive, you brat!"

"Sorry, I don't have it on me." Liz smirked as she delivered a kick that made him stumble back. One last shove from Liz was all it took to send him tumbling down the stairs. A proud grin was shown on Liz's face as she called out into the hall. "Oh nurse! There's a man here with a concussion."

Kazuto ran. He ran and ran as fast as his legs would carry him. The wedding had almost definitely started. He just prayed that he would make it before the I do's.

' _Come on! Faster damnit, faster!'_

It seemed like forever had passed when Kazuto finally caught sight of Asuna's room number. He burst in through the door and into the room.

Everyone there seemed thrown into shock when Kazuto suddenly came into the room. Asuna's parents had no idea how to react. Asuna had never looked happier as she saw the face of the raven haired swordsman that she loved. Sugou however was giving Kazuto a fierce glare.

"Kirigaya, may I ask what it is you're doing here?" Mr. Yuuki asked.

"I would like an answer to this as well." Asuna's mother asked with a stiff upper lip. "You have some nerve interrupting my daughter's wedding."

Kazuto quickly caught his breath as he looked at Asuna. He gave her a silent nod before turning back to her parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Yuuki, there's something you should know." He said as he pointed an accusing finger at Sugou. "Sugou Noboyuki over there is the one keeping the three hundred SAO players trapped in a coma! He has them all in Alfheim! You're daughter was in there too, until just recently!"

Asuna's father widened his eyes in shock. "Kazuto, I hope you realize those are some very serious accusations. You better not be doing this simply because you can't stand to see Asuna marry someone else."

"It's true father!" Asuna told him.

Both of Asuna's parents turned to their daughter in shock. "What?!"

"It's true. Sugou kept me trapped in there for two months, treating me like some kind of trophy." She glared at Sugou with all of the hatred she could muster. "He kept me caged up and played around with me, even going so far as trying to… to…" It hurt her to remember back to the horrible things Sugou had done to her. But she wasn't going to stop now. "To molest me! HE STRIPPED ME NAKED AND TOYED WITH MY BODY!"

Asuna's parents gasped in shock. After recovering from what he had heard, Shouzou turned to Sugou with a glare. "Noboyuki… Is this true?"

Sugou glared over at Kazuto. He had been so close to making his plans a success. But once again, Kazuto had thwarted his attempts. "Kirigaya…."

"It's over, Sugou. You don't have any power over me or Asuna any longer." Kazuto said, taking out the portable drive and showing it. "Your sick games end here."

"What is that?" Kyouko asked.

"This is the blackmail Sugou was using to keep me and Asuna quiet about his plans." Kazuto explained. "I was able to rescue Asuna from Alfheim. But when I came here, Sugou used this to keep us from stopping him by telling anyone what he was up to."

Shouzou turned back to face Sugou, only to find the man rush past him and lunge at Kazuto. He slammed Kazuto against the wall, making the drive fall out of his hands. "You'll pay for this Kirigaya! No one does this to me and gets away with it!"

Kazuto and Asuna gasped as Sugou grabbed the drive and placed it on the floor. He raised his foot up over it. "If you're taking away my future, then I'm taking away the thing most precious to you!"

"No! Stop!" Asuna exclaimed.

Everyone gasped as Sugou slammed his foot down, smashing the drive into pieces. Kazuto and Asuna were the only ones that could understand the gravity of what Sugou had just done though.

"YUI!" Asuna cried out. She attempted to get out of her bed, but her body was still to weak and she collapsed onto the floor. Her father came to help her up, but Asuna swatted the hand away, too caught up in her rage at Sugou. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU SUGOU!"

Shouzou walked up and pinned Sugou to the wall of the room. "What did you just do?"

Sugou smirked as he looked at his former boss. "That was my revenge against your daughter and her wannabe hero boyfriend. This is what they get for getting in my way."

"Not exactly, Sugou." Kazuto said with a smirk as he got to his feet. "You shouldn't get too excited."

Sugou eyed Kazuto. "What are you talking about."

As if to answer him, a new appearance walked through the door. Silica looked at Kazuto with a smile and nodded. The young girl walked up to Asuna. "Don't cry, Asuna. Here."

Through her tears, Asuna saw Silica pull out a flashdrive from her pocket and hand it to her. Asuna stared at the drive, only hoping that it was what she thought it was.

"What is going on?! How are there two drives?!" Sugou yelled. "I only had that program on one!"

"Which is exactly what we figured." Kazuto explained. "That's why we had a second one. A friend of mine tricked your lackeys into thinking this was the real one when she gave it to me. But what they didn't know was that she had passed along the real one to Silica here on her way to reach me." Kazuto smirked at Sugou. "You didn't really think I'd put Yui within arms reach of you, did you?"

Asuna looked at the drive with tears dripping from her eyes. "Then… this is…"

"You don't have to worry, Asuna. Yui is safe and sound on this drive." Silica told her with a smile.

"DAMNIT!" Sugou yelled. "You'll pay for this, Kirigaya! I swear I will make you pay!"

"That's if you get out of jail first, Sugou." a new arrival said, entering the room. Kouichirou eyed Sugou with a fierce glare. "And with the crimes you've committed, I don't think that's happening."

Sugou glared hell at Kouichirou. "So you're the reason they were able to get that program. You damn worthless piece of-" Sugou was cut off as Kouichirou swung his fist and delivered a right hook directly at Sugou's face.

"That was for what you did to my sister. But I've wanted to do that ever since I first met you, you bastard." Kouichirou said as he spat at Sugou before walking over to his sister. "Are you alright, Asuna?"

Asuna threw herself at her brother, hugging him while crying. "Thank you. Thank you so much brother."

Kouichirou smiled as he held Asuna with a warm embrace. "I'm just glad you're safe."

It wasn't long before hospital security came into the room, wondering what all of the commotion was about. Kouichirou gave them the short version of the explanation, and Sugou was detained, until the police arrived to drag him and the scientists working with him away.

After Sugou was taken away, Kouichirou explained the full truth to Shouzou and Kyouko. Both of them were appalled to hear of the things Sugou had been doing behind the scenes.

Shouzou came up to Asuna and hugged his daughter. "I'm so sorry Asuna. It's all my fault you had to go through this. If only I had realized Sugou's intentions sooner, I could have-"

"It's alright dad. Really." Asuna told him. "I'm safe now. Thanks to Kirito."

Shouzou looked at Kazuto with an appreciative smile. "Asuna's right. Thank you Kirigaya. For everything."

"Well I can't take all of the credit." Kazuto said as he rubbed the back of his head. "I had help from my friends. It's because of all of them that we were able to pull this off."

Soon Liz and Suguha both came into the room, both of them happy to see that everything had worked out. Asuna smiled as she hugged Liz, her best friend from SAO. Suguha also introduced herself to Asuna, who thanked her for all of her help. Shouzou and Kyouko both thanked all of them for their assistance in stopping what would have most certainly ruined Asuna's future, as well as RECT's.

Needless to say, there was a lot of explaining that had to be done, both to Mr. and Mrs. Yuuki and the police. But despite all of the hassle that came with it, Kazuto had never been happier in his life than at this moment. Sugou had been stopped Asuna was safe. They had won.

And that was all that he needed.

 **A/N: Hope you all liked the chapter, and sorry again for it being on the shorter side. I would have gotten this out earlier, but I was WAY too addicted to Hollow Realization (such a great game). Next chapter will be the finale of this short fic, so I hope to see you all when it is posted, hopefully within a month or so as long as I don't get drowned in college work.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Ugh, I always suck at writing epilogues. I'm sorry this took so long to get out and even more sorry that it's on the short side. I put this off for a bit, then the SAO Movie was upcoming and I decided to wait until that was over, and boy was it AMAZING! I you have seen it, I'm sure you'll agree with me that the movie was worth the wait. If you haven't seen it, watch it the second you get the chance! Seriously, any SAO fan will love what they did with it.**

Two months had passed since Sugou's plans had been thwarted. Asuna had finished her rehabilitation for the most part and was living back home. When she had heard about everything that Kirito and her friends had gone through to help her, she didn't know what to say. She had never been happier in her life.

And then it came time to explain Yui to her parents.

Asuna knew it was coming, and she dreaded it. She knew that her parents would be hesitant to accept the family she had made with Kirito and Yui. But to her surprise, they both said they would accept it. For now at least. It wasn't much, but for Asuna it was a start. She knew her mother would need some more convincing, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

"Mama. Wake up. It's morning."

Mmmm" Asuna groaned as she slowly blinked her eyes open. "Morning Yui."

Sadly Yui wasn't actually there with her, but thanks to some help from Kirito she was able to talk to Yui through her phone. Thinking back, having Yui there to encourage her might have been what helped Asuna get through her rehabilitation so quickly.

"You and Papa are going on a date today, right?" Yui asked.

"That's right." Asuna said. "You didn't tell him where I plan on bringing him, right?"

"Nope. I didn't say a word, just like I promised, Mama."

"Good girl." Asuna said with a smile.

"Mama, why do you and Papa have to go on dates?" Yui asked. "I thought you two were married."

Asuna giggled to herself. "Believe me Yui, if it were up to me your Papa and I would already be married in the real world. But right now, we're only married in-game."

"Why?"

Why. That was the difficult question to answer. The main reason, if Asuna was being honest, was her mother. But she couldn't tell Yui that. As stubborn as her mother was to being "high class", Asuna wanted her and Yui to have a good relationship.

"It's complicated, Yui." Asuna said. "Besides, we're a bit young to get married. What matters is that your Papa and I love each other, just like we love you."

Yui didn't seem to fully comprehend what her mother was telling her, but she went along with it. "Okay then. I hope you have fun Mama."

"Thanks Yui." Asuna said with a smile. "I'll be sure to log on and spend some time with you when I'm back."

Asuna left her room and walked out the front door of the house. Almost immediately after she got outside, Kirito was walking up to her home. The chestnut haired girl smiled happily as she waved to her boyfriend.

"Morning Kirito."

"Morning." Kazuto said as he leaned in and gave his girlfriend a peck on the cheek. "And by the way, it's Kazuto in the real world. It's not polite to call people by their avatar names here."

"Sorry. Guess I forgot." Asuna giggled. "You just always call me Asuna, so it's hard to tell the difference sometimes."

"It's not my fault you chose your avatar's name to be your real name." Kazuto countered. "I guess imagination was never one of your strong suits."

"Oh really?" Asuna said with a teasing grin. "Someone sounds like they don't want one of my homemade sandwiches for lunch today."

A cold sweat went down the back of Kazuto's neck as he feverishly shook his head. "N-No! Anything but that! I'm sorry!"

Asuna giggled at her boyfriend as she grabbed his hand. "Come on you. Let's get going."

Asuna led Kazuto through the city streets as they made their way together to the spot Asuna had picked for their date. After much walking, they two of them finally arrived at their destination. It was a large park, filled with fresh green grass and large trees. A small pond was in one area of the park, where ducks were swimming along.

"So this is that perfect spot you mentioned." Kazuto said as he looked around. "It certainly is big."

"I know, right?" Asuna said. "And doesn't this place kind of remind you of our home back on Floor 22 in Aincrad?"

"A little, yeah." Kazuto nodded. "Although I doubt there's any monstrous fish in that pond there for me to fish out."

Asuna giggled at the comment. "I still remembered how quickly you ran away when that thing first came out."

"Hey, he caught me by surprise is all." Kazuto argued.

"You were still adorable." Asuna smiled.

The couple walked over to a spot in the park and sat on the grass together. The warm sunlight bathed on them while the refreshing breeze blew past them. Asuna leaned her head on Kazuto's shoulder, enjoying the peacefulness of the moment.

"So, are you adjusting to the new school set up for everyone?" Kazuto asked. "I know it's probably not the type of school you're used to after all."

"Actually, I kind of like it better this way." Asuna admitted. "The school I went to before was so competitive. Everyone always wanted to prove they were better than everyone else. Even I was like that back then." She let out a sigh. "But my time in SAO taught me that I was wrong. I want to live my life differently now. I want to be able to make people happy, to bring smiles." She gave Kazuto a peck on the cheek. "But most of all, I want to be with you."

Kazuto smiled as he kissed Asuna back. "I want to be with you too. Forever."

Asuna smiled at him. "When Sugou showed up at the hospital room that night… and he told us he had Yui… I was so scared. I was afraid I'd never be able to see you or her ever again."

"As if I'd ever let that psychopath take you away from me." Kazuto said.

Asuna nodded her head. "I should have known you'd find a way to save me. Because you're my black knight in shining armor."

"To be fair, I had help." Kazuto said. "Liz, Silica, Klein, Sugu and your brother too. If it wasn't for them, I never would have been able to get Yui back and stop Sugou."

"Yeah. I'm grateful to all of you." Asuna said. "You're all the best friends I could ever have." She leaned in and kissed Kazuto on the lips. "And you're the best boyfriend I could ever have."

"I think your mother would care to disagree."

"She'll come around. Give her time." Asuna told him. "For now, let's just enjoy ourselves."

Kazuto laid down with Asuna on the soft grass. The couple cuddled together and closed their eyes. This was bliss. This was the peace they had worked so hard to obtain. And now, after all this time, they could finally enjoy it. No more fighting. No more dire situations. Just the two of them together, holding the one they loved.

And that was all they needed.

 **A/N: Again, sorry this was on the short side, but I want to thank all of you that took the time to read this story. If you haven't already, please be sure to check out my SAO OC story I Will Not Bow Again, as well as its two sequels Blazing Revolution and Blazing Generations.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed this story. See you next time.**


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